NHS watchdog expresses emergency care concerns

Serious concerns about the nation's emergency care services have been raised by the Healthcare Commission.

The watchdog found that, in 40 per cent of areas in England, care provided by A&E departments, out-of-hours GP services, NHS Direct and walk-in and ambulance services is inadequate.

Patients often do not know where to go for help and face delays, despite a recent reshaping of emergency care.

A third of out-of-hours providers do not respond quickly enough to calls and ambulances often fail to get back on the road within the target time after taking patients to hospital.

However, the government insisted that improvements have been made and that the review contains positive findings.

Professor Sir George Alberti, national director for emergency access, commented: 'Urgent and emergency care offered across most of the NHS to millions of people each year is of a high standard and we welcome the results of this review by the Healthcare Commission.

'We are not complacent and we recognise the importance of encouraging continuous improvement in local services to ensure the delivery of timely, high quality care to patients.'

The government is working with the Healthcare Commission to host three national events which should help primary care trusts to take stock and develop plans to improve emergency care services.

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